Do I Lack the Concentration for Mathematics?

[RoughRoad]

I don't know if this is the right thread to ask my query, but anyways...


I am 17, currently in my 12th grade, and I live in Mumbai, India.

Now, my problem is that I really like how mathematics can be used as a tool for explaining the phenomenas nature. I love reading biographies of various physicists and mathematicians, and really get motivated when I ready some quotes by other eminent mathematicians. By doing that, I really get motivated to study maths.
But when I ACTUALLY sit down to solve problems, withing an hour, I get bored. It's not that I don't like the subject, but it's just that I don't have the concentration power to let myself study the subject.

What should I do? Is it that I don't have an amplitude for Maths?
Pls help, and if possible, pls share your childhood experienes while studying this subject, and you gained motivation to solve more and more problems without getting frustated...

 

[Astronuc]

In high school, I used to rush through math problems to get them done. I did get bored once I mastered a concept, but then I'd move on to more complicated or different concepts. Actually, going back to 4th grade, I'd try to study ahead in the curriculum.

I was not so much into math as application of math, so physics and other sciences were of interest. Physics is very math intensive, so I'd recommend exploring opportunities to apply math in physics and perhaps engineering.

Computational physics is a growing area.

 

[lordkelvin]

I think it's really hard at first to be motivated to study mathematics. Math is cool, and math is useful, but there is A LOT to know before you really know math, and the breadth of the subject can definitely be a source of discouragement.

If you like math, then the structure of university courses will push you to learn it. I wouldn't worry about being bored. You'll see a whole new world and be forced to learn it by the expectation of a grade once you get into high level undergraduate courses.

 

[RoughRoad]

I get really hyped up after reading stories of Ramanujan, Edison etc. I hate practising concepts which almost every science student knows. I want to do something new in this field. Something like publishing papers and other articles, which are ofcourse unique, but I know I am nowhere near doing something like that.

The main problem with me is that I lack motivation. It's just that I want to wake up one day and get all the knowledge in one go, and then start doing my own research! :-/

 

[Astronuc]

Learning is like weight lifting.

Suppose one wants to be able to lift 100 kgs over one's head. One starts by being able to lift 5 kg, then 10 kg, then 20 kg . . . until one's body develops the capacity to lift 100 kgs. One could conceivably develop the capacit to lift 150 kgs, or more, or perhaps less depending on how intensively one works - unless one is physically limited.

There are many things one can learn, and in math, there are many areas to study and master.

Perhaps one can browse the field and find particular areas of interest.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

http://www.claymath.org/millennium/

One could work on one problem or a part of one problem.

One could also read about Andrew Wiles's solution of Fermat's Last Theorem and how he worked throught that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_Last_Theorem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wiles#The_proof_of_Fermat.27s_Last_Theorem

 

[Phyisab****]

Math and physics is hard work for most of us.

 

[RoughRoad]

How do guys like Hawking, Michio Kaku, Feynmann, Gauss, etc studied in their childhood? Are some humans really intellectually superior than others? Or do I need only some passion and a brain to achieve even 2% of what they have?

 

[Phyisab****]

If your only goal in studying physics is some type of hedonistic acknowledgment that you are on the same intellectual level as the greatest minds to ever live, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. That is a surefire path to failure and insanity.

 

[RoughRoad]

I lack motivation to study maths. I love physics on the other side. But Maths! I love the way it describes all the natural phenomenas, and we only need a paper and pen to explain all that! But I am really frustrated because I think I am inferior in Maths. If I struggling with Maths at this stage, I am sure I won't be able to survive the higher Mathematics education.

 

[lisab]

Math and physics is hard work for most of us.

True, true, true.

RoughRoad, struggling with hard problems is a huge part of learning science.

 

[quantumdude]

If you really do lack the motivation to study the subject seriously, then that is a good indication that you shouldn't major in it. That's just my 2 percent of a dollar.

 

[someperson05]

One thing I learned, and am still learning is you will only feel discouraged if you compared what your doing to the previous "greats". For me, the important thing is to do math because I like learning math.

Actually, I fell into loving math only recently, two years ago the senior year of high school. I really had a honeymoon feeling with it, and I would try studying what I then thought was real math. I had a hard time focusing on it though, and I would get a few good hours of work here and there, but nothing really significant. It frustrated me to no end.

This frustration eventually made me lose sight of my original love of mathematics and my interest. That is when I began to compare myself to the greats, and ask why am I not as good as them. My motivation morphed into something completely alien and external to myself. Not only did I compare myself, it morphed into something I wanted to do because I wanted the recognition. I began to do math because it seemed like the thing smart people did, and my original inspiration was lost. I studied a fair bit of extra stuff, but I had lost my enjoyment.

Now I am finally back to my original love of mathematics. I am looking forward to this winter break because I am going to start some Real Mathematical Analysis and I am no longer saying I need to know X amount of mathematics by time T. I am just trying to learn it for the sake of itself.

Somethings I've learned through this, the more I learned math, the more math I did even when I didn't have real love for it, the more I could focus on it. I developed my ability to study mathematics, if that makes sense.

So in my experience,
Motivation and focus can come with time. You still have to work at it, but it will grow and become easier to do extra stuff. (I've found it easier to focus on classwork.) So keep at it if you really want to do mathematics.

There is still a lot of mathematics in physics. You could consider theoretical physics. It sounds like you are more interested in applied mathematics, as you describe mathematics as that which models natural phenomenon.
"Pure" mathematics is considered to be that which is removed from natural phenomenon. (Usually, though I think the division is somewhat artificial.)

I hope that helps.

 

[RoughRoad]

One thing I learned, and am still learning is you will only feel discouraged if you compared what your doing to the previous "greats". For me, the important thing is to do math because I like learning math.

Actually, I fell into loving math only recently, two years ago the senior year of high school. I really had a honeymoon feeling with it, and I would try studying what I then thought was real math. I had a hard time focusing on it though, and I would get a few good hours of work here and there, but nothing really significant. It frustrated me to no end.

This frustration eventually made me lose sight of my original love of mathematics and my interest. That is when I began to compare myself to the greats, and ask why am I not as good as them. My motivation morphed into something completely alien and external to myself. Not only did I compare myself, it morphed into something I wanted to do because I wanted the recognition. I began to do math because it seemed like the thing smart people did, and my original inspiration was lost. I studied a fair bit of extra stuff, but I had lost my enjoyment.

Now I am finally back to my original love of mathematics. I am looking forward to this winter break because I am going to start some Real Mathematical Analysis and I am no longer saying I need to know X amount of mathematics by time T. I am just trying to learn it for the sake of itself.

Somethings I've learned through this, the more I learned math, the more math I did even when I didn't have real love for it, the more I could focus on it. I developed my ability to study mathematics, if that makes sense.

So in my experience,
Motivation and focus can come with time. You still have to work at it, but it will grow and become easier to do extra stuff. (I've found it easier to focus on classwork.) So keep at it if you really want to do mathematics.

There is still a lot of mathematics in physics. You could consider theoretical physics. It sounds like you are more interested in applied mathematics, as you describe mathematics as that which models natural phenomenon.
"Pure" mathematics is considered to be that which is removed from natural phenomenon. (Usually, though I think the division is somewhat artificial.)

I hope that helps.

That really inpired me to go on with Mathematics. Thanks!

 

[someperson05]

Glad to hear it. I wish you the best of luck.

If you ever desire online resources, like lectures and stuff there is a lot of stuff in the Learning Materials forum, and I have a huge list of my own.

 

[Chunkysalsa]

Although I always said I liked math I think I always said that because I didnt hate it and was good at it.

It wasnt until I hit calculus that I can truly say that the math was interesting. Precaluculs maths are very boring and routine. Its until you start using all that basic math on higher levels that I think it gets interesting.

But I dunno, I'm not math student and I haven't touched higher math like analysis.